Known today only as the first wife of Colin Campbell Cooper, Emma Lampert Cooper (1855-1920) was as highly regarded as a painter, but since her death her works have all but vanished. Emma Lampert, as she was then, was born to a German immigrant leather tanner, in Nunda, New... Read more

No accounts of the painting of animals, nor of French painting in the nineteenth century, can omit one of the most famous animalières of all, and one of the leading women painters, Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899). Born as Marie-Rosalie Bonheur in Bordeaux, her father and uncles were established painters and... Read more

Now unfortunately overshadowed by Impressionism, the Pre-Raphaelite movement was a major influence in European painting in the middle and later years of the 1800s. The core of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was small and transient, but the movement and its periphery spread further, and lasted until the early twentieth century.... Read more

In the first article, I gave an account of the early life and work of Marie Spartali Stillman (1844–1927), up to her return to England after five years in Florence, in 1883. During that period she had made good advantage of her time in northern Italy, which had brought... Read more

In my previous article, I described the life and work of Marie Spartali Stillman (1844–1927) during some of her most active and productive years. This article completes my account. Late 1892 saw Marie’s step-daughter Bella married after a brief engagement to the Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge... Read more

Like many artists, Thomas Eakins (1844–1916) married another artist, Susan Hannah Macdowell (1851–1938), better known under her married name of Susan Macdowell Eakins. Like many artists’ wives, their lives, careers, and works have been largely forgotten. Indeed, several authoritative sources assert that “after her marriage, Susan Eakins gave up... Read more

Some artists are known for just one or two of their works which happen to have been added to public collections. Anna Massey Lea Merritt (1844–1930) is a good example of a prolific woman painter who is known for a single painting, in the Tate in London, most of... Read more

When writing about Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, I mentioned that one of his daughters also became a professional artist, and promised to give an account of her life and work. Here it is. Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912), This is Our Corner (Portrait of Anna Alma Tadema (1867-1943) (front) and Laurense Alma... Read more